S For Superheroes

In the 1980s, the figure of the superhero experienced an unprecedented deconstruction that has had a lasting impact on the perception of this comic-book stock character. Crossing over to the dark side, the (anti-)heroes of Alan Moore's graphic novels V for Vendetta, Watchmen and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen now come across as the gloomy alter egos of their less complex and certainly less multi-faceted predecessors. In the seminar, we will be investigating the historical, political, and literary contexts that caused this shift in the genre conventions of the graphic novel as well as their cultural side effects, which have moved the genre as a whole onto dystopian terrain.

Please read:

Moore, Alan and Kevin O'Neill. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Omnibus Edition. New York, NY: Vertigo, 2013. [ISBN-13: 978-1401240837]
Moore, Alan and David Lloyd. V for Vendetta. New York, NY: Vertigo, 2008 [ISBN-13: 978-1401208417]
Moore, Alan and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. Burbank, CA: DC Comics, 2014. [ISBN-13: 978-1401245252]